Swell Maps: Classic or Dud?

Ripped & Torn
International Rescue
Loin of the Surf
Shoot the Angels
Elephant Flowers (no. 2)
Turn Me On Dead Man
Bronze & Baby Shoes
nevertoseeanyotherway

'New York' may well be one the best songs ever as well.

Shame about their horrendously disorganised re-issue/compilation protocol though.

It's on the Internation Rescue CD (but not the LP configuration).

BUT,,,,,,,is there anyone w/any knowledge about the never-released Daga Daga Daga lp by Soundtracks and Head? there's that fantastic 12" on Rough Trade--Rain Rain Rain, and a track or two on Collision Time Revisited... to the best of my knowledge the 12" has never been issued on cd, which is a shame! anyway, love to hear more of these sessions!!

Well, FUCK. I guess I shouldn't have sold my old Mute CDs. To the used bins!

1 International Rescue
2 Black Velvet (remix)
3 Forest Fire
4 One Of The Crowd
5 Winter Rainbow (Armadillo)

I don't see 2 or 4 on any of the other records. Yet another headache for SM completists... Now I'm wondering what's on the Munster vinyl of Jane!

Also, this website is pretty useful:

http://www.televisionpersonalities.co.uk/jowe/swell.htm

really loving this right now. sending this thread to the top!

Amazing band, of course...but this Wastrels and Whippersnappers CD comp that just came out is a snooze. It kinda re-imagines them as an experimental punk band with none of the pop that made them great.

What everyone says, once again. Hmmm. Should dig them out again.

agreed... the appeal is the parallel universes they could easily inhabit... only one half at a time would be short changing...

that Wastrels CD sure does suck, agreed. guess there was no bottom left in the barrel.

I just turned some musician friends on to them and they are way into it.

Steer clear of the Secretly Canadian reissues of Jane and Marineville. Even to my (decidedly non-audiophile) ears they sound overloud and badly compressed. The Mute issues are still pretty easy to get a hold of, and they're loaded with bonus tracks to boot.

Steer clear of the Secretly Canadian reissues of Jane and Marineville.

Interesting -- I wondered about that. I'd downloaded "Midget Submarines" sample mp3 from the SC site while at work once and remembered it sounding somewhat different from the Mute cds at home.

And yeah that Wastrels disc was a letdown. I wish they'd pull together the peel session tracks (some were on Whatever Happens Next, some are floating around the internet) and any other radio tracks.

Does anyone know where the b&w video-looking footage from the "Midget Submarines" video that SC put together came from? It looks like they're actually playing MS on television somewhere (based on what I can make out of Epic's drumming).

re: Mute reissues vs. SC reissues:

other pro-Mute-version points are noted earlier in the thread as well, buyer beware.

how about a BOX SET already? just keep packing crap on cds until you hit 10 discs' worth.

"Tokyo Airport"!!!! This sounds like some lost krautrock gem or something. So awesome.

You guys seriously, this song.

These lads need some proper expanded reissues - there's lots of good bits scattered amongst compilations and umpteenth reissues of their albums.

weren't there expanded reissues a few years ago? i can't remember. i've just got old copies of these records.

Yeah, Secretly Canadian reissued the two albums proper a few years ago, but wth fewer extra tracks than the 1989 Mute reissues. For example, the Mute version has 22 tracks, while the SC version only has 16 total; the fantastic "Let's Build A Car" is on Mure, but not SC.

So far I have both SC reissues, Train Out of It, and International Rescue. Not sure which of the other compilations I need.

weird how "let's build a car" is on a video on the SC Jane reissue but not as a track

It gives me a total headache trying to figure out whether I've got everything by these boys or not.

this x 100.

There's another Alive comp titled "Sweep the desert", focused on the more krautrock/avant garde side of the band. Hardly essential, but if I remember well there was a couple of tracks that didn't appear elsewhere.

yeah i guess i've got the mute reissues?

Everyone's Mute issues OK? My 'bought when they came out' versions are suffering from disc rot, so I keep looking at copies online wondering if they're more recent pressings or I'm going to open the shrink rap to find a bronzed disc inside.

I *finally* tracked down a CD copy of "Collision Time Revisited" at a good price. I've got the Mute CDs of their two albums - do I need "Train Out Of It"? I'm not sure what's on there that I don't already have.

probably, that stuff is SO confusing. but iirc there are things on the Mute version that you can't get anywhere else.

yeah it (Mute version) has "Doomette", "Clear The Floor", "Cave Dwellers", "Dresden Style", etc.

My question that killed this thread in 2010 still stands BTW.

Hmm, I have Train Out Of It and A Trip To Marineville on Mute, I'd better check them later on, then I might be able to answer :)

my Mute Jane is fine; bought it when it came out. my Restless C.T. Revisited, however, skips.

yeah all my Mute CDs are fine, I have Jane... and Train Out Of It.

Also starring David Callaghan from the Wolfhounds - perhaps a more appropriate recruit.

Wuh....? Without Nikki and Epic, isn't it more like a Swell Maps tribute band? I mean, still, I'd pay to see Luke and Dave and Jowe play together.

yeah — seems very odd to be calling it Swell Maps. Could be good, though?

Are we sure that Haines is not taking the piss?

I guess "Jowe Head Plays the Music of Swell Maps" doesn't sell as many tickets as calling it Swell Maps, is the reality behind this decision.

Here's the details

It's a bit like when the Bonzo Dog Band did those gigs with dozens of guests and half the surviving band.

Jowe Head Swell Maps book incoming:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/jowe-head/swell-maps-1972-1980

edition of only 1000 copies btw, and comes with a 7" of unreleased material

! Swell Maps Peel Sessions release in September!

https://mute.ffm.to/swellmaps-tjps

wow. some of that was on the long-out-of-print Whatever Happens Next, but not all.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/mar/10/swell-maps-interview-jowe-head

"johnny seven" is a jam